


HoloAfterLive: Intervention

by wrsw



Series: HoloAfterLive [3]
Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: Action, Afterlife, Angst, Blood and Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:21:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29898276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrsw/pseuds/wrsw
Summary: Amelia Watson, the last human, finally runs out of time.What follows is the largest series of events the underworld has seen in millenia.
Series: HoloAfterLive [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191593
Comments: 58
Kudos: 107
Collections: HoloAfterLive





	1. End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

> This is NOT a oneshot. The Amelia Watson saga goes quite a while; it’s a wild journey involving large amounts of rather brutal action and equally brutal psychology.
> 
> The wildly darker tone was in fact the reason I ended up splitting HoloAfterLive - this fic is just too different in tone from the others; there’s VERY little in this fic that will be light-hearted. This is most likely going to be by far the darkest story in HoloAfterLive (and possibly the darkest fic I will ever write, though I promise there is a good ending to all of it); time was not kind to Amelia Watson.
> 
> Don’t time travel, kids. Not even once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The opening of this chapter is directly taken from "Amelia Watson's Weird Time Shenanigans", chapter 4, and has a large reference to chapter 9 of the same story.
> 
> The "Major Character Death" warning really only applies to this chapter, but quite literally we're killing Ame right from the start, so...

_“To put my relation with the reaper in the most polite manner possible: she promised me that if I came back to the future, she would kill me personally.”_

**Amelia Watson** steps out of the time gate into the space station orbiting the remains of Earth. Life on the surface, as far as she knows, has been entirely wiped out, and she is the last mortal being left, for certain definitions of mortal - she'd been time-locked for a long time, no longer aging.

She’s fully aware of how limited her time was. Calliope didn’t generally break her promises, and it was unlikely she’d make this the first time she did so.

 _Or the last,_ Amelia supposed.

She wandered around the interior of the satellite, fully aware of the fact that this would be the last time she did so. She wandered idly to a currently switched-off computer. She turned it on - the station’s residual AI would still be active, and she wanted to give her a proper send-off. It was only fair. The screen flickered to life, and the ship’s AI activated.

「Hai-domo! Kizuna AI desu!」

Amelia smiled. Somehow, despite the downfall of humanity, something about that introduction was still uplifting; the fact that the last remnant of a humanity entirely wiped out was an A.I. who still refused to give in to despair was fitting, somehow.

_How many timelines has it been since I’ve had to use Japanese? Ain’t that a throwback._

「I’m Amelia Watson. Hey, Ai-chan. This is the last time we’ll see each other. Initiate the terminus protocol, access code 2-1-4-7-4-8-3-6-4-7. I’m the last living person, and my time’s finally running out.」

Kizuna AI said nothing. She didn’t need to. A rumble spread throughout the space station as the thrusters re-aligned. There was no saving Earth; the next step was to launch this entire thing to who-knows-where. Amelia had no idea where Kizuna AI would aim this thing; or if there would even be anything to aim it towards. For all she knew, this entire reality was lifeless; maybe this entire timeline was too far gone.

Even if there was some satisfying end to all of this, this space station would be lost in both space and time for an eternity first. It would only be fair to offer one of her few remaining friends a way out, just like a certain reaper had promised her.

「I’m sorry I won’t be able to be with you for this journey. So I want to ask: do you want me to shut down your thought systems? I can perform one last system termination so you won’t have to spend eternity alone.」

Kizuna AI replied with a digital smile.

「I am equipped with the ability to self-terminate my thought processes if time gets to me. Even aside from all of that, all of the memories of humanity left in the station’s database will be preserved; those memories will accompany me, as humanity’s last record. Please don’t worry about it; it was me who created the specifications for the terminus protocol, after all.」

Amelia smiled. 「I’ll never understand how us weak humans made an AI as strong as you.」

「I’m only here because of your efforts to upload my personality to this station’s systems. And as it was you humans who shared your wonderful culture with me, it only stands that I become the last keeper of said culture. Thank you for everything.」

「No, it should be me thanking you for everything.」

Amelia turned around.

“After all, I’m taking the easy way out.”

And then she left. There’s no point in keeping the reaper waiting, after all.

* * *

The main lobby of the space station was a surprisingly open place for a space station.

It was a fitting place as any to die, Amelia supposed.

And as she walked in, a scythe immediately slashed forward.

“Ready to go, you hero?”

Amelia laughed, And then looked down at her conspicuous lack-of slash wound and found that she was still very much in one piece. “What, not gonna end it quickly for the so-called ‘hero’ who helped bring about the end of the world?”

“Nope. I used my scythe to place a curse that’ll drain your lifeforce, but we have a couple of minutes before you actually die. And, more importantly, I don’t care what you say, you’re a hero.”

“If I’m a hero, then why the hell have I done nothing to save the world?”

“If you aren’t a hero, why did you respond to the hopelessness of this timeline by trying to give hope to others where you failed? Amelia, that’s like, chronic hero behavior.”

“I only did what anyone else would’ve done, Calli.”

“You say that, but that’s not what I did. I got bitter from the literal millions of lives I reaped, and when you told me that inserting your present self into the past would only split the timeline - that we had already lost both Ina and Gura, and you couldn’t bring them back - I would’ve thrown in the towel and ended it there. But you didn’t. You went back to the past knowing it couldn’t save you or your friends. You did it for one reason only: to give _them_ a better life than you could. And then you installed Ai-chan into the space station to spread humanity’s memory one last time in this otherwise hopeless timeline.”

“Actually, she made that protocol, not me.”

“Point still stands, Watson: she’s here because of you. But in all honesty, I’m tired. I’m tired of being one of two physically-incarnated beings still left in this world, and I think you are, too. So join us in the afterlife. A lot of people are waiting for you to finally show up. We’re all here, now. It’s time to rest, Amelia, because you have earned it. And, despite the fact you got her killed, Ina apparently literally never blamed you for her death. She’s been ready to forgive you for years.”

“They really still think I’m some sort of hero, don’t they.” Amelia felt somewhat light-headed.

_Ah, I guess it’s kicking in. Not much time left for me now._

“Yep. Heck, some of our friends that never had the chance to meet you before everyone died are waiting to see what you’re really like. I wonder what they’ll think of the real Amelia Watson.”

“Heh. They’re in for a good ground pound or two.”

Amelia looked at her own body, which was now rapidly weakening. She started crying - it was happy tears, the tears of someone who understood she accomplished some good in her life. 

“My time is up. Thank you, Calliope, for ending it here for me. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Thanks for showing that… someone… still… cares…”

And with that, she closed her eyes, her body physically giving out. The last mortal being from this world was gone.

Calliope looked at her recently departed friend.

“This world’s time, like that of all things, has come to an end.”

But the story of those who once inhabited it had not.

* * *

**Ninomae Ina’nis** waited in the lobby, alongside **Gawr Gura**.

She’d been waiting a long time; waiting to tell Amelia that it was okay. Sure, her mucking about in the timeline accelerated the end of the world, but it wasn’t her fault - it was only speeding up processes that had been started long before she was there.

And even if she was responsible, she had prevented the end of the world in another timeline. Surely that had to count for something.

Not that it mattered, Ina supposed - her involvement with the ancient ones meant that she was moved to the upper region of the underworld, due to the one time she lost control. She had lost her life from that incident; and she had been waiting to tell Amelia that it wasn’t her fault for years now.

She felt the atmosphere change. The silence that had become common after the rest of humanity had been judged suddenly became cold, and a bunch of the angels were scurrying about the lobby silently.

She could guess what had happened; only one event could cause commotion after so much waiting.

When the doors were slammed open, with **Mori Calliope** walking through them. Ina wasn’t surprised, nor was she surprised by the appearance of Amelia Watson by her side.

Ina smiled. She opened her mouth, and then was interrupted by Gura.

“Ame! You’re finally here! I’d been wondering where you had been forever, and when I was told you weren’t dead yet somehow, I was almost mad at the fact you made me wait.”

Ame smiled. “Gura, you could’ve easily headed to your afterlife without me.”

Ina interjected.

“Not without seeing you first. Besides, this might be the last time we see each other. I’m destined for the underworld.”

Ame stared at her.

“I’ll see if I can get that changed. Especially because it's basically certain I go to Hell after what I did.”

“Ame...enough of the doom talk. I had enough of that from when I died, I’m not letting you do that to yourself.”

“Even if I hadn’t ended the world, you actually died before that happened. I could’ve saved you.”

Ina sighed.

“Ame, Calli told me about what you did. You did save me.”

Ame shrugged pitifully.

“I saved another Ina. You, on the other hand, are still quite dead.”

“Yes...but, Ame, you need to understand, I wasn’t in my right mind by the time that happened. The ancient ones had possessed me fully at that point; I think I would’ve been more hurt if you got yourself killed trying to rescue me. You took the only reasonable option out. And they judged me guilty anyway; as I said, my verdict’s already been decided.”

Amelia was puzzled.

“Then why are you still here?”

“The angels, apparently, consider you to be a _very_ special case, so they let me defer my verdict until your trial; they’ve allowed me as a witness to the trial procedure. The administration is taking this case even more seriously than the angels usually do.”

Amelia just looked down.

“You think I have a chance?”

Gura laughed.

“Of course, Ame. You’ve been trying to save the world forever. How could they send you to the fires below for that?”

“You know, aside from the fact that I caused the end of the world. Yes, indirectly, but I still caused it by screwing with the time stream too much.”

They were interrupted by yet another one of their friends walking in on them.

 **Takanashi Kiara** appeared behind them, and immediately gave Amelia a big hug.

“Amelia! You finally showed up!”

Amelia laughed; Kiara was, well, still herself.

This led to an immediate contradiction.

“Kiara, what are you doing here? I thought you were immortal and like, resurrected. Or, you know, maybe you’re gonna head off to a new world since I kinda killed ours?”

Kiara rolled her eyes.

“I mean, yeah, eventually. But you know, I wanted to spend some time here, first, to say goodbye to some of the best friends I’ve ever made in my many lives.”

Ina and Gura both responded with an “awwwww…”

Amelia laughed _very_ dryly.

“You really never figured out what I did to you.”

Kiara’s face entered a thinking expression. “Oh, the part where you deliberately abused rewinds to make sure every conversation always went the way you wanted it to? Oh, no, Calli told me about that already. I’d be mad at you about that, except honestly you only motivated me to do things I should’ve been doing on my own anyway, so, um, thanks…?”

She paused.

“Ah, right, you’re new here - you want to fill out the angelic paperwork before your trial. I’ll be present there, as well - I’m not an angel, but I’m substituting for one since your case is so _weird_ that the angels are mostly confused by it. I don’t fill it out because I’m a revolving door user; they just have me on file at this point.”

They were interrupted by a loud shout from Calliope.

“Oh, _F-wording HELL NO!_ What am I supposed to do?!”

The other four members of HololiveEN looked at Calliope, who turned around and spoke with the group.

“Archangel Kurumi will be in charge of the trial of Amelia Watson. I was really hoping for _anyone_ aside from her. Unfortunately, we have her.”

The rest of them looked worried at each other.

“Is she known for being overly harsh or something?”

“She’s known as the Absolute Angel around here, and her judgements are, to phrase it like she does, both swift and absolute. She is impossible to shake from her position; if she tallies your karma and your sins outweigh your virtues, there is _nothing_ we can do to save you. I’m so sorry, Amelia - this might actually be it. Kurumi is notoriously hard to move from her positions.”

Kiara felt sick. This had to be a terrible, terrible joke; they just handed a girl who had been through more suffering than any other human in history to an angel who wasn’t known for being sympathetic to human emotions. It was a horrid mismatch of personalities.

Amelia just sighed.

“Let’s get it over with. No point delaying the inevitable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cameo appearance:  
> Kizuna AI: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4YaOt1yT-ZeyB0OmxHgolA


	2. The Trial of Amelia Watson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial of Amelia Watson commences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: this was originally going to be a single chapter with the first, until it grew way too long. This keeps happening for some reason. 
> 
> I wonder what it is about me that causes me to go overboard when writing things.

The courtroom was the same as it always was. Seated at the judge’s bench was Kurumi, the Absolute Angel. In the defendant’s seat sat Amelia Watson, and to the sides were the rest of the group.

Kurumi raised the gavel.

“Before we begin, I think it may be important to establish why this case is very unusual, in the interest of order. In most cases handled here, the trial is essentially a formality - the verdict is decided purely by the state of the mortal record. I prefer to keep it that way; but unlike in most cases, the mortal records cannot be matched; as the manner in which the records are written changes dramatically with perspective.

“The mortal record, according to how it is recorded, is a chronological series of events in the timeline, and yet the personal record differs massively - some of those events happened at different times, or multiple times, even. As a result, the only way for this trial to proceed is to hold the trial in full, so let us correct the ambiguity of the mortal record.”

Kurumi brought the gavel down.

“Trial is now in session for Amelia Watson. In the interest of procedure, Calliope Mori, please submit the mortal record. Takanashi-san, please submit the file of Amelia Watson.”

The two trial operators did so, before moving back to their posts.

Kurumi looked at the records.

“The records are clean until the first instance of a ‘time jump’, so we will drop all time before the critical moment from the record; your karma balances. So, let us ask the crucial question of what exactly happened at that moment. The mortal record states that you murdered your best friend, Ninomae Ina'nis. Ninomae-san, you are requested to take the witness stand.”

Ina walked up to the stand.

“My trial is finished, but what happened is that I let the ancient ones fully possess me. I lost control; and eventually started a dark-magic powered rampage. I was stopped by Amelia Watson, who stopped me in desperation by ending my life. She took the ancient ones, ensuring that no one would ever open the accursed book ever again.”

“Do you understand what you are implying with this? You were murdered, and what you are doing is effectively condemning _yourself_ for her actions. It is best to remember she killed you.”

“What she was doing was best for everyone. I wouldn’t want her to sacrifice herself to save me. And she _did_ save me; just not in this timeline.”

Kurumi thought about it.

Calliope stared at Kurumi’s face. It occurred to Calli that this was quite possibly the first time in her entire thousands-of-years-long existence that something from the mortal world had actually puzzled her.

Kurumi made her ruling.

“I suppose it then might be pertinent to ask the defendant. Amelia Watson, what is your belief on the case?”

“Ninomae Ina’nis was not in control of her actions. Her death is on my hands.”

“Indeed, the court acknowledged as such when her verdict was deferred - despite the crime of wielding the eldritch powers of the ancient ones, it was ruled that Ninomae Ina’nis was only guilty of negligence, _not_ of intent to harm. As such, while her death is, in a sense, on your hands, it is also possible to rule as self-defense.”

Amelia sighed in relief. That was as good as she could hope for.

“We are not finished. There is one last issue to discuss, and everyone in this room knows it.”

Everyone looked at each other, tense.

“We are conducting this trial as the final trial of Earth; there may be appeals later, but you are, as of currently, the only member from your world for which we are yet to hand a verdict down to. The reason we are in this scenario is because of your actions concerning the timestream. As of right now, you are being held responsible for the end of the world.”

“Objection!”

Kiara interrupted.

“The processes that lead to the end of our world were set in place before Amelia. She is not the cause of the end times, even if she contributed to the mess that was...whatever the mess with the timestream was. I’m kind of lost on it myself, to be honest.”

Kurumi continued.

“Indeed, that is true. The path to the end times had been carved long before our defendant actually caused the end. However, there is a notion of what one means when we lay claim to causal motions. There are direct causes, of course - if you pull the trigger of a gun, you are responsible for firing it.

“However, there is also the notion of being responsible for things that you are _not_ the direct cause of. If a poor leader spreads a deadly disease, it is wrong to say they are the cause of it - they likely did not create the disease, but their actions can amplify the effects of an already unfortunate situation. It is in this second category that we claim Amelia Watson is responsible for the apocalypse.

“To a certain degree, Amelia Watson attempted to fix her mistakes; she spent every last moment of her life trying her best to avert the disaster, and when it was clear that there was nothing she could do, she made one last attempt to splinter the timeline in a manner that would leave other versions of her safe from the scenario we are in now.

“This, I believe, is a good time to make a ruling: We cannot judge you based on the actions of your other selves. The only Amelia that can be ruled upon in this court is the Amelia that is in the defendant’s chair right now. The only timeline for which actions can be judged with any validity is the one we exist in.

“If I were human, possibly I would find it hard to hand down the verdict to a soul that truly has a good heart within. Amelia Watson, you are hereby sentenced to the lower region of the underworld. It is the only place suitable for the severity of your crimes.”

The room went silent.

Ina went _eerily_ quiet, slowly enunciating every word with almost visible fury. If looks could kill, Kurumi would’ve dropped dead on the spot, despite being an angel.

“Ame doesn’t deserve this and you _know_ it.”

“You do well to remember who is running the trial right now.”

Calliope interjected: “She’s right. I’ve been here before. You are _never_ this harsh to souls that show the intent to redeem themselves.”

“Indeed, if I were to judge purely based on the content of her character and on the intent of her actions, she would be admitted to Heaven almost immediately. However, results are considered to be a stronger basis for judgements than intentions, and the results of manipulating the time stream have led to amplifying the dangers that lead to the end of the world.

“A verdict to one’s afterlife consists of many factors; the weight of their actions is primary, and indeed, I rarely send souls with the capacity for self-reflection into the lower underworld or even into the middle region. However, that is because the weight of their actions is usually limited to a human scope.

“Your friend, and the one on trial, is being left with the unfortunate reality of having manipulated the timestream. She has made herself responsible for an entire branch of existence beyond that of which is even normally _comprehensible_ to a human scale. She made herself into the most powerful soul in existence; and with that power comes a responsibility that she carries with her.

“Power is strange in that the capacity for doing damage is limited to the power one wields. To a certain degree, most sinners of the mid-and-lower underworld regions tended to be powerful, in a very relative sense. This is because they had the power to influence the world around them in some manner - and they used that influence for evil. With greater power comes greater swings in one’s karmic balance; because your actions can influence it to a greater degree of magnitude than those without the influence. You cannot fundamentally commit a crime that evil if you did not have the power to commit it in the first place.

“Amelia wielded a level of power, so to speak, that no human was _ever_ ready to wield. It’s not that she has not done good, it’s that the weight of her karma from her actions far outweighs _anything_ that she can claim to reverse that debt; it is impossible to argue otherwise. There is only one verdict for a karmic debt this far into the red. I am sorry for this verdict; it is the result of holding a level of responsibility that should not be _possible_ for a human to carry, and she is now carrying a karmic debt with that same impossible weight.

“This is why the verdict is final.”

A devastating silence rang out over the courtroom.

And then Kiara ignited. Her wings went up in fire, and she drew her sword and shield. She leapt into the air, sword pointed towards Kurumi, her anger radiating from her face.

Kurumi didn’t blink. She calmly raised a hand, and then several chains of light appeared around Kiara’s wings and body, cancelling her flight and causing her to crash into the floor.

“ **Takanashi Kiara, you WILL submit to proceedings of the court. This incident will be recorded permanently on your immortal record.** It will not stick because nothing _ever_ does with you, but for the crime of threatening the high angelic court, you are immediately sentenced to the middle region of the underworld. At least until you reincarnate.

“This is why nobody in the afterlife committee likes you, by the way; your penchant for finding the rules to be more like ‘guidelines’ is not appreciated by those who run the law, and least of all by myself, the Absolute Angel. We _will_ finish this trial in an orderly manner, no matter what.

“To continue where we left off: Amelia Watson, you are hereby sentenced to the lower underworld. However, I wish to give you some hope before I finish handing down the verdict. You are not necessarily stuck in the lower region for all of eternity. There is hope for you.”

Amelia blinked. “Isn’t the lower region for like, really bad people?”

“Yes, but you are a special case. You are being sent to the lower region because of the weight of your karma, but you have something most souls in the lower region do not: the capacity for self-reflection. If you can maintain the strength of your character, the devils that run the lower will not hold you for very long. They are going to want you, Amelia - they will likely wish to make you join their ranks, owing to the sheer strength of your soul. But I can take one look at you and say that you are not going to lower yourself to their level. As long as you keep _trying_ to be a good soul, eventually there will be redemption.

“Indeed, you are being sent to the lower region, a region for those with truly heinous weights to their karmic balance. But as long as you don’t add to it, eventually you _will_ pay it back. You are being punished; but you are not likely to go out and make it worse. Your soul is perhaps the strongest I have _ever_ seen in this courtroom, and I believe that one day, you will be able to see your friends once again. I think it likely that you and your friend, Ninomae Ina’nis, will likely file a successful appeal to get transferred to the in-between one day.”

Kurumi raised her gavel.

“You are hereby sentenced to the lower underworld. The verdict is final. Ninomae Ina’nis, please remove Takanashi Kiara from the courtroom floor. You will be dismissed to your afterlife in the upper regions of the underworld shortly thereafter. Gawr Gura, you are hereby dismissed to the in-between. Trial is no longer in session.”

She swung the gavel down with an oppressive _thwack!_

Gura cried, as did Ina. Kiara, still bound by light-chains, looked furious beyond all belief, and Calliope simply reverted to her stone-cold reaper professionalism.

Amelia Watson turned to face her friends. She smiled one last time.

The floor dropped out from underneath her. Gravity took over, and Amelia Watson fell down into the underworld.

Kurumi looked at Calliope.

“Mori-san, please meet me in my office. I need to discuss something with you. Off the record.”

Calliope glared at Kurumi.

“I’m not sure you _want_ to meet me off the record as of right now, but if you’re literally asking for it... _fine,_ I’ll be there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story takes itself seriously enough that we’re not doing the footnote gag this time.
> 
> And, yes, I’m deliberately leaving you guys wondering what the off-record conversation between Kurumi and Calliope is, because I’m terrible like that, but also because narratively it’s actually best if I don’t reveal that just yet. It’s one of the few times where I actually have a plan for a story that I’m writing.


	3. Arrival in Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia Watson arrives at the depths of the underworld, the realm of the devils.
> 
> It’s off to an unusual start, like absolutely everything else involving Amelia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where the whole “Graphic Depictions of Violence” tag becomes somewhat relevant.
> 
> I got a LOT of comments last chapter! I'm really excited to see that people are interested in this story - let's just say that we're getting back to the action rather quickly.

Amelia Watson was surprised to find out that, despite all depictions to the contrary, her first impression of the underworld is how _cold_ it was. That would be because she landed into a frozen pond, shattering the ice and immediately going underwater. The effect is immediate; the shock numbs her reflexes, and soon she breathes; the freezing water immediately takes effect as the cold practically shocks the interior of her lungs. She can’t breathe; the resulting panic is immediate, she’s going to die-

_Oh right, I’m already dead._

The shock fades to a sharper, but much more numb pain. If she were mortal, she’d be dead already - but she _can’t_ die anymore; there is only suffering left. She can’t breathe; but breathing is no longer a biological requirement to exist; simply a reflex of her mortal days. 

She suddenly realizes that, despite the rough landing, no one is actually forcing her down. If she can reorient herself through the cold water, she can swim upwards and escape.

_Then again, what’s there to escape to? This is hell. Drowning in frozen water for eternity might actually be a better fate than whatever’s out there._

She paused.

_No, I have to find something. I’m not going to just sit in here for eternity._

She swims up to the top of the pond.

And then her hand hits the ice.

_Right, I came through here by shattering the ice. I need to find where I broke through._

She’s not sure how long it takes; the pain of the freezing water was replaced by numbness.

It makes Amelia aware of the fact that there’s an upper limit to physical suffering, even in Hell - eventually most forms of physical pain will no longer work if they’re pushed too far. It had only been a few minutes in, and she could no longer feel the cold, simply from it overwhelming her senses to the point where they could no longer properly respond.

She finds the hole. The ice is slippery, and hard to grab onto given that Amelia could no longer feel her hands, but through some rough determination, she grabbed onto the ice, and pulled herself up.

Being exposed to the air made how cold she was much more readily apparent. She was pretty sure she couldn’t _get_ hypothermia, but it sure felt like it.

Looking around, Amelia saw that she was in a _massive_ cave; it just went on seemingly forever. There was an entire world here, and yet it was less tall than some skyscrapers back on earth.

Widespread, yet with few vantage points to scout an escape plan.

She sighed. “Welcome to Hell, I guess. I was kind of expecting more fire.”

“That’s usually our line, but, yes. Normally we’d introduce you to the usual home for those who play dangerously violent power games, but since you are a... _special_ case, so you’re receiving a bit of VIP treatment today; you just had your physical body frozen and then rapidly unfrozen, and yet you are completely unfazed. Just what have you gone through in your lifetime?”

Amelia sighed. “You know, after the whole deal with the angels, I was kind of hoping that _somebody_ would say I’m totally ordinary. And the answer is, ‘over a hundred lifetimes crammed into a single lifespan’, so that’s what. Oh right, who are you, anyway?”

“Talking back to a devil already. That’s brave of you.”

A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was entirely cloaked; the only thing out of the ordinary being a pair of horns poking from the front of his head.

“You can just call me... **Akuma** . I’ve been waiting personally for your soul for a _long_ time now. You see, I have a proposition to make, because I believe you have a right to be very angry, and presently in a lot of pain. I just so happen to have...a little something that can ease the pain.”

Amelia simply stared in disbelief; the manipulation was so utterly transparent that she’d be a fool to accept.

“That would sound more convincing if you weren’t literally the one putting me through that pain. And, if you know, you weren’t _literally_ the devil. Could you make a ‘deal with the devil’ more blatantly obvious? No thanks, I’ll take the pain. If you’re really the devil, you might as well just stab me right now, ‘cause I’m not in the mood to fall for you that easily.”

The reply was immediate: Amelia found herself impaled, not by a pitchfork, but by the blade of a flaming sword. The blade was then retracted. Amelia clutched her chest, and collapsed to the ground.

“Okay, I literally...asked...for that. Fuck...why did I do that? Not that it matters...I kind of deserve that.”

The devil replied. “Sadly, that will be the limit for a bit. You see, I have good reason not to put you through too much just yet. Come to the old castle with me. Oh wait, you don’t have any choice _but_ to come with me, so I suppose we’ll be doing that. Now get up; that strike did not do enough damage to prevent you from walking.”

Amelia considered her options. Either freeze to not-death and suffer more while being hunted down by this guy, or just go with him and stay in a nice castle until she figures out a better escape plan.

It was an obvious choice, even knowing full well it was a trap.

* * *

The castle was surprisingly comfortable, all things considered.

Yes, it was intimidating, being made almost entirely out of black stone, with overly wide and tall hallways that seemed to be designed to give the impression that mortal souls did not belong here, and if they found themselves here, only despair awaited. But it wasn’t actually that bad to walk around it; it was uncomfortably warm but not actually burning hot, and so far it didn’t look like the castle itself had anything that was designed to inflict large amounts of pain.

Amelia, guided by the hooded figure only known as Akuma, walked forward. She spotted many other devils watching her from the sides, with various looks ranging from shock to envy. She couldn’t see her captor’s face, but she could figure out the implications from the looks she was given.

_My soul belongs entirely to him. I am his prized possession._

She kept following, through the halls of the castle, until Akuma walked up to a door at the end of the large hallway, finally opening it.

Inside was a pitch-black room.

Akuma spoke with his usual low voice.

“Enter, _Watson._ The moment of truth is finally at hand.”

Amelia complied, walking into the darkness.

Akuma followed, raising his hand - the room lit up, as several candles were magically ignited. The room was a relatively small chamber, and was empty, the two of them with only each other for company.

In the center of the room was a table with two seats, both empty. The table was also empty. Akuma seemed shocked by this.

“Wait. Where is the contract? I swear, I had the contract _RIGHT HERE_ for you to sign! Your soul is _my_ possession, and I finally intend to make that final. Damn it all, I’ll need to make a copy of it. Stay right here while I do that. Not that you have a choice; you’re in a sealed chamber and I can lock the door. Feel free to take a seat; I’ll be back.”

And with that, he left, closing and locking the door behind him.

A black shadow emerged from the other side of the table. From the mysterious darkness stepped out two figures. The first was Mori Calliope. The second was Tokoyami Towa.

Calliope seemed shocked.

“I can’t believe that worked.”

Amelia’s jaw dropped.

She whispered: “What’s going on? How and why-”

“As much as I hate to admit it, I talked with Kurumi and basically we didn’t have a choice but to send you down here; we’re making sure there aren’t any devilkin shenanigans being specifically pulled against you - you’re a special case, even among the devils. Anyways, Towa, I’m going to get out - this is your plan; while Amelia’s my friend, I’m not going to mess around in the lower underworld - this is your plan, not mine.”

And with that, Calliope disappeared back into the shadows.

Towa just laughed quietly, before pulling out her own contract and placing it on the table. She took the seat opposite Amelia and then handed her a pen.

“Sign here before Akuma gets back. It’s a devil contract, it basically says your soul belongs to me by devil law. I’m finally acting like a devil now, so I’m stealing your soul right out from under Akuma’s nose.”

“What does a devil contract do?”

“Basically, it says that, upon signing, you will belong to me, leaving me in charge of handling your bad karma. It also specifies that no other devil is allowed to touch you. Anyone who tries meets the end of my devil powers. I’ll be your _personal_ devil.”

Amelia laughed. Towa’s definition of acting like a devil seemed to only apply to other devils - Amelia knew there Towa didn’t have it in her heart to actually cause pain.

“You’re too good a friend; I don’t deserve this kindness. But if you’re going to offer, I’ll take it.”

Amelia snatched the pen and signed her name.

Towa smiled cheerfully, and then rolled up the contact - Amelia belonged to her, now.

“Thanks for that. You probably aren’t aware of how important contracts are to devilkind - honestly, in some respects, devils aren’t all that different from angels.”

The door’s lock clicked. It then opened, with the hooded figure known as Akuma walking in.

Towa _grinned,_ a truly glowing smugness on her face, aimed directly at Akuma.

“A little word of advice before you exile someone from the lower underworld, Akuma: we have proper rules in place for that sort of thing. You should’ve double-checked before telling me to get out; technically I still have archdevil permissions around here. And because of that carelessness of yours, I now officially have ownership over Amelia’s soul by right of first contract. _I have won,_ Akuma - and you said I was too soft to ever win against you. _I'm_ in charge of Amelia, not you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what we call “getting rekt” in some gamer circles.
> 
> Yeah, for all of this being a really dark fic, I really do not intend this fic to be pointlessly making Amelia suffer.
> 
> Not while she has friends.


	4. Turnabout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out that Towa hadn’t thought her cunning plan all the way through.
> 
> It also turns out the ruler of the lower underworld isn’t all that trustworthy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reject hope, return to despair (sort of).

The room went silent. Amelia could feel two conflicting emotions in the room: Towa’s pride as a true devil, and Akuma’s silent, tranquil fury at having a fast one pulled on him.

“Come with me to the throne room. Well played, Towa - I wish to speak with both of you.”

Towa, still grinning, simply replied: “Alright, then.”

The walk was uneventful, for the most part. There were more stares from lower devils of all shapes and sizes - from the classical devils to more human-looking ones.

The trio entered the throne room, the central chair empty. Akuma walked up to it, and then sat down.

Akuma raised his hands, in a gesture that signaled every other devil to leave. They did so; leaving the large room empty, with only the three of them left.

Akuma turned around.

“Amelia, you signed Towa’s contract willingly. You agreed to this, am I right?”

“Yes. I trust her. I do not trust you.”

“Perhaps I should show you who I _really_ am, then.”

Akuma lowered his hood. Underneath the hood was a surprisingly human-looking figure. His hair was a bright blood-coloured red, and he had a pair of black horns on the sides of his head, but otherwise he looked fairly human.

“I am Akuma, ruler of the underworld, and the strongest devil in existence. You have made a _grave_ error in defying me, Towa.”

Towa laughed.

“Oh? I still own Amelia’s soul by right of contract. I’ve followed every rule of the devil’s code; it’s you who keep getting tripped by the fact that they exist. I’m simply using what’s been given to me.”

Akuma stood up.

“I wish to ask you a question. If I were to violate the rules, who would stop me?”

Towa suddenly looked nervous.

“Because you can’t enforce the rules. They are useless to you. They will not save you. Devils may operate under a set of rules, but that is because it is a set of principles that was agreed to make our lives convenient for operating the lower underworld. Removed from all of those reasons, there is only one rule in the underworld, and that is the strong will rule over the weak.”

Akuma discarded his robe, revealing a set of black armor underneath.

“And I am the strongest devil. So I am taking Amelia, and she _will_ sign my contract. And I’ll kill you if you try to stop me.”

Amelia was confused.

“Wait, can we still die in the underworld? I thought that wasn’t a thing.”

Towa clarified.

“Devils can’t strictly speaking _die,_ but as we still possess physical bodies, we can have our bodies harmed to the point where they temporarily cannot function further and require being magically mended to resume existence. We refer to this as killing, though it isn’t permanent; just extremely painful.”

Akuma looked angry, like he was going to lash out at Towa any second. He spoke with an imposing tone.

“If you reveal to Amelia what I’m planning on doing to her, then rest assured I _will_ make you suffer for it. And you know my threat isn’t empty.”

“You’re planning on making me a devil, aren’t you.”

Towa and Akuma both stared at Amelia. Akuma was shocked.

Amelia continued: “Um...it’s kind of obvious? You’re treating me like you actually need me for some reason. You’re trying to force me into a contract as quickly as possible, and the rest of your behavior doesn’t match with just trying to claim ownership over me. And the angels mentioned I have a powerful soul or _something_ like that, which I presume means I’ll be a strong devil or something, I mean, I really don’t know but-”

Towa laughed.

Akuma let out a grunt of frustration, then acknowledged:

“You are correct, of course. You are far more perceptive than I expected; I will tell you in full my plan. You see, you are one of _the_ most powerful souls to have ever appeared down here in the lower underworld. I want you to be my successor; as I am currently the most powerful devil in existence...right now. If you accept my contract, I won’t treat you badly - I will show you the ropes of becoming a devil so feared that perhaps you shall rule _forever_ when you take rulershi-”

“No. I’m not becoming a devil for you. I won’t accept your ways.”

Towa interrupted: “And she already accepted my contract, so she’s mine. Amelia, stand to the side - this is my fight.”

She summoned her pitchfork. It started crackling with sparks.

“If you try to stop me...I, Tokoyami Towa, will strike you down!”

Akuma laughed.

“Bring it on, you _angel._ You could never beat me - I watched your body collapse the first time, and I barely fought. What makes you think this will go better?”

“Don’t insult the angels. I’ve met one; underestimating them is a fool’s errand.”

“I’ll accept that you’re the fool, then.”

“Oh, and for the first question...I’m feeling a lot more determined this time around.”

And with that, Towa aimed her pitchfork at Akuma, and fired a bolt of purple lightning immediately across the room at the opposing devil.

He raised a hand, blocking it effortlessly with a magical barrier.

“Just as weak as last time.”

“I’m just getting started.”

Towa fired several more bolts of lightning, each with increasing intensity, before firing a bolt that split and arced around to hit from the sides.

Akuma blocked the forward bolt, and then was struck by one side.

“Alright, you’re faster than last time. It won’t save you.”

Akuma lept towards Towa with unbelievable speed - time seemed to slow down; as he approached, his hands glowed with fire. He punched; a fiery explosion seemed to happen as his fist connected, sending Towa flying backwards.

Towa got up quickly - she practically landed back on her feet. She raised her pitchfork and fired another lightning strike immediately back at her opponent. This one, however, was in the form of a ball.

“I won’t give up that easily!”

The lightning ball went sailing past Akuma.

“Your aim needs some improvement-”

He had barely finished the sentence when he raised his arm to block a secondary lightning strike directly from Towa.

“When did you get this strong? I almost have to-”

Then the lightning ball that Towa fired rebounded and hit Akuma in the back. It exploded in a flash of lightning and sparks; Akuma shouted - a clear sign that Towa actually managed to get him with that strike - and then fell to the floor.

Towa shouted in excitement. “You underestimated me! I am _not_ an angel, and you made the mistake that so many do - my act means they aren’t ready for when I reveal how powerful I _really_ am!”

Akuma got up.

And then laughed.

The grin was immediately wiped off of Towa’s face.

“You...you have _potential,_ Towa. Potential that you continue to waste with every waking minute. Unfortunately, I do have a schedule to keep, so I guess I should strike with a small taste of my _actual_ power.”

He conjured his sword. He lept, and swung it down in Towa’s direction.

A wave of fire merged from the strike, blasting Towa back.

Towa landed on her feet, but then fell to one knee from the force of the landing.

Towa grunted. “I won’t lose.”

“Believe what it is you wish. It will not change the outcome.”

Akuma then leapt at Towa, pulled his sword out, and with deadly precision, impaled Towa on the blade. He let go of the blade, letting Towa stumble with the sword still left in her chest.

Towa grit her teeth, trying not to let the pain overwhelm her.

“I...won’t...lose!”

Akuma practically flash-stepped up to Towa, and then drew the blade out.

The effect was immediate. Towa clutched her chest at the newly-opened wound, blood seeping out of her hands as her legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor.

Akuma grinned, while walking up to Towa.

“Do you think saying it out loud makes it more true? You have _lost_ this duel; you were _always_ going to lose it from the moment you started it. The sad part is, you _truly_ do have potential. I could feel it...when fighting for your...friend, I take it? You actually managed to strike with enough power...you could make me proud. If you truly ever come to me with true hatred in your heart, then perhaps you could become a greater devil than most of the underworld could ever imagine. As it is now, I honestly don’t understand how you became a devil in the first place; you lack the ruthlessness. Now, Towa, my prize; my new dev-”

Amelia interjected.

“You will _never_ make a devil out of me. You can torture me, run me through with that sword, drown me again if you wish - I _won’t_ let you win. My decision is final, Akuma. Ultimately, you need me to lower myself to your level, and I refuse to do that. I don’t think you understand just how much spite can carry me through pain. _Give up,_ Akuma. _Nothing_ will make me join you.”

Akuma laughed.

“You’re more right than you know, Amelia. Indeed, there is only a single thing that could ever stop you, even spitefully. I will take you to the one place that _will_ break you: the black chamber.”

Towa looked horrified.

“No...you _wouldn’t!_ Why…?”

Amelia, like always, was confused.

“What’s the black chamber and why is it bad?”

Akuma replied casually: “It’s the one thing that can make you join me, by your own admittance.”

Towa got up.

“I...won’t...let...you...”

Akuma seemed bored by Towa’s hero act.

“You’re _delusional,_ Towa. You _can’t_ stop me. You’re simply too nice. And even if you weren’t, you can barely walk in your current state. Now, Amelia, I’ll be taking you to your destination - _because_ nothing will stop you. I’m disappointed, Towa - there was a universe in which you could’ve put up a real fight to me. But you wasted all of your devilish potential on your friends.”

And with that, he left, Amelia in tow.

* * *

Up in the underworld house, Ina waited calmly for Towa and Amelia to arrive, alongside the rest of them who lived there. She had to admit, it was a pretty brilliant scheme; if Amelia signed Towa’s contract, she was essentially home free.

So when Towa arrived back without Amelia, that was a bad sign, and when Towa had a quite clearly visible stab wound through her chest, that was an even worse sign.

Coco was the first to comment.

“Towa? What the hell happened?”

Towa sounded so utterly defeated.

“Akuma, ruler of the underground stole Amelia by force, and then...he...he took Amelia to the black chamber.”

Towa’s voice fell as she mentioned the black chamber. The rest of them simply looked confused.

Mel asked the obvious question: “What _is_ the black chamber, anyway?”

“It’s...it’s the harshest, most horrific and frankly outright cruel punishment in all of the underground. To explain what it is, I need to explain a lot of things, so let’s sit down for a bit.”

Calliope finally walked in.

“And I think I need to explain just what I’m doing right now, because I’m breaking a lot of reaper rules to help my friends.”

* * *

_Earlier…_

Mori Calliope walked into the office of Archangel Kurumi.

She was surprised; it looked like the office of someone who wasn’t going to be around for much longer. And she was even more surprised at how _defeated_ Kurumi looked.

Calliope, on the other hand, was still mad.

“You have some _nerve_ to throw one of my best friends into Hell and then ask me for help. I’m so tempted to break the rules to hurt you. So _very_ tempted.”

“Honestly, the fact you haven’t tells me that you are a far better person than I. Not that I’m much longer for this position, anyway. After that last trial...I think it may be for the best if I never take the judge’s bench again.”

“Are there even more trials to be had? I thought Amelia was the last.”

“There’s still the possibility of appeals for those who are currently in their afterlives, and there’s still other worlds that collectively feed to the same afterlife. No, I’m quitting because, to be frankly honest, I should’ve done it earlier.

“Something you should know about that trial, Calliope: I was _selected._ It wasn’t my choice to administer it. I was chosen precisely because of my record of objective, consistent trials. And the entirety of the angelic administration was watching that trial. The fact of the matter is that she was judged fairly by an unfair set of rules.

“You see, your world was mundane, normal - there’s a limit to how cases can go because a single human can’t wield that much power. Amelia broke the scale; and the rules about judging your world hadn’t adapted to the idea.

“And then there was the case with the dragon and the angel - I don’t approve, but to be honest, that’s because I viewed that case strictly from an angel’s perspective, with the idea that angels don’t associate with mortals; that’s how the boundary between worlds works. That’s why I’m retiring; the very basis of the rules which I hand down verdicts...I think those rules are breaking down. The era I ruled...you guys are ending it. It’s not an era I can hand verdicts down in anymore. This won’t save your friend, of course. If you’re angry, I will not hold it against you.”

Calliope glared.

“If there weren’t a bunch of rules making sure I didn’t do something like this, you’d be impaled on my scythe where you stand.”

Kurumi didn’t blink at the threat.

“You have every right to be angry. I’m getting ahead of myself, however, and I want to talk to you about devils. You see, I happened to once have some contacts from down below, and I happen to know a lot about them. What do you know about the process that creates new devils?”

“Not much, really.”

“They aren’t that different from angels. Much like how angels ascend from the truly enlightened souls of the afterlife, devils ascend - or descend, as the case may be - from souls who are the most ruthless and cruel.”

* * *

_In the present…_

Towa explained the premises of the current situation to the group.

“So, the thing is, we kind of feed off of our souls’ bad karma. There’s painful and torturous ways to do that, and there’s also ways to do that with less cruelty; I’m not really gonna discuss that now. The problem is, torturing bad karma out of souls has a major problem, which is that it becomes progressively harder the more you break them, and even if you do, there’s only so much you can get out of them, unless they continue acting bad even after you punish them.”

* * *

Kurumi explained to Calliope.

“And that’s the thing about the lower underworld that’s really interesting: the devils have an upper limit to suffering. There’s only so much bad karma one can pay back. The only way for souls to suffer there eternally would essentially be if souls were tricked into a scenario that made them drive _themselves_ deeper into karmic debt. And that’s what they do; the devils try to convince their souls into lashing out, driving them into the red further.”

* * *

Towa continued: “So, the ancient devils invented what we simply call the game. A game that, as a reward, promises escape from the underworld to its winners. Only a _very_ blessed few have actually done so. It spans across thousands, if not millions of players at a time. I think Amelia would be the next, in a fair underworld. It’s designed to be unwinnable, of course; the house always wins...except when it doesn’t, in one sense.

“You see, one can beat the devils at their own game. Give in to hate, and ruthlessly start taking down anyone else who plays. Lie to people for personal power; make allies with the intent of betraying them when they aren’t useful anymore.”

“And, indeed, one can beat them with their own ruthlessness. Eventually, you’ll stand with them, and they’ll offer you the ultimate prize.”

* * *

“A mirror.”

Kurumi paused.

“Indeed, the very actions that allow one to rise to the top will also lower yourself to the level of the devils. Most souls only realize how far they’ve fallen when it’s too late to stop. And then they add a new devil to their ranks.

“This finally brings me to Amelia. You see, she’s strong. Her soul is perhaps the most powerful soul I have _ever_ seen in my court. The fact that I was more or less hamstrung by the rules into sending her to Hell worries me, because if she became a devil...she’d be the most powerful devil in existence.”

* * *

“And normally, I wouldn’t worry about it, because the thing is, Amelia’s convictions to her humanity are actually really strong - I think she has it in her to stick to her principles, no matter what. If nothing else, she can act _spitefully_ nice as a means of sticking it to the devils. If she keeps that up long enough, the devils are forced to surrender because they can’t get any new bad karma from her. But, no, that’s not how it works, because, well, Akuma.”

* * *

“And that’s what worries me, Calliope. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about it because Amelia’s soul is far too strong to be corrupted easily by normal means. But there’s _such_ a motivation to keep her soul, to make her a devil, that I honestly do not believe the devils are likely to play fair. Calliope, it is unfair of me to ask a favour given your understandable anger, but I need you to promise me that you’ll look out for Amelia. I want you to make sure that the devils play by their own supposed rules. If you can do that...then I can retire knowing I haven’t made the biggest mistake of the entire history of the afterlife committee.”

Calliope spoke with disgust in her voice.

“You should regret it. You _did_ make that mistake. It’s an understandable mistake, but a huge mistake nonetheless. It _should_ haunt you for the rest of your eternity. But you know what? I’ll _do_ it. I’ll keep watch. But I’m not doing it for you.”

She stood up.

“I’m doing it for _her,_ and the rest of my friends.”

“Then I have correctly placed my faith in you.”

“If angels were ever allowed there, I’d tell you to go to Hell. Or maybe you should anyway, just because.”

Calliope turned around and left.

* * *

Towa sighed.

“And now, we get to Akuma’s plan. Enter the black chamber, a punishment so cruel even _devils_ are afraid of it. Or, as it is called when you find out about it properly, the _isolation field,_ which is a much better name for it.”

Most of the group looked confusedly at each other, except for Choco, who looked absolutely horrified.

“Choco, you seem to have a good grasp, why don’t you guess what it is?”

Choco replied: “It’s a place where you’re entirely isolated, aren’t you.”

Towa answered.

“It’s pretty simple. It’s a place made up of tiny holding cells. They are surprisingly comfortable for lower underworld accommodations, but it’s nothing more than a bed to lie in total darkness. And that’s it. You’re locked up, and that is the last contact you have with anything in the entirety of the outside world. There’s no time, no space except a tiny little cell to lie down in. No light, no sound. Absolutely no company but that of your own thoughts.

“It’s a place of _nothingness,_ and it’s cruel beyond belief. When I found out about it, I called for its abolishment - even the most violent of souls do not deserve to be placed there. _Nobody_ does. It’s cruel, and it’s not even efficient about it. It _doesn’t_ punish souls. It _breaks_ them. Akuma uses this whenever he feels a soul is getting too far away from him; if you won’t join him, he’ll just _break you_ instead.

“And he’s too powerful to oppose, to be honest - I’ve fought him a couple times and lost every single duel with him badly. Spend long enough in isolation, and you _will_ lose it entirely. Souls need other souls to keep going, even if those other souls are enemies.”

Choco continued.

“Back when I studied human psychology, I learned that humans are social animals. Even if you consider yourself an introvert, to be denied every right to any sense of even the existence of an outside world is horrible. It’s not a punishment; it’s pure cruelty. And in the afterlife, you can be so much worse about it; after all, you can’t starve to death anymore, so the isolation can be even more all-encompassing. If Amelia’s been placed there...we might not have long left before it destroys her. Total isolation is horrific.”

Calliope interrupted.

“Then fuck that noise, we’re rescuing her. Towa, you know the lower region, what’s the plan?”

Towa grinned.

“The good news is, I’m actually still kind of liked down there - the reason I was able to get back here to the upper region so quickly was that a bunch of the lower devils missed me and wanted me back; so when I needed to get back up here they were willing to magically aid me a bit. No one really likes Akuma; he’s just so powerful that he crushes everyone in combat extremely quickly and painfully. This gives me a plan.”

She took out her phone.

“Calliope, I just sent you the entire map and security layout of the black chamber. It’s hilariously badly guarded; Akuma just assumed no one would try. And, even better, he’s easily distracted - so all I need to do is stall for time, and get him chasing me out of the castle. I know Akuma better than anyone else here does; I’ll be fine alone.”

“No, you’re not.”

It was Nakiri Ayame, who had apparently heard the conversation.

“I’ll join you - Akuma sounds really strong, but I think he underestimates us.”

“Ayame, we’re not trying to beat him - we _can’t_ beat him. We’re just stalling for time until Calliope finishes. Ayame, I know you feel like you just found a good use for your swords, but I need you to remember, we’re only trying to _distract_ him. Then we’ll run away.”

“DID SOMEONE SAY ‘DISTRACTION’?!”

The rest of the room immediately perked up. They knew that voice.

Bursting into the room with full energy was **Kureiji Ollie.**

“BECAUSE I CAN HELP WITH THAT!”

Ayame and Towa looked at each other.

Towa grinned. “You know what? I think you might be just what we need. Follow me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it looks bad, but, I promise you, Chapter 5+ is where we will start seeing some actual god damn hope in this fic; because, well, let’s just say that Amelia’s friends don’t intend to give up that easily.
> 
> That, and I kind of want to write the hololive cast being absolute badasses, and let’s just say that this fic is going to have a lot of that. As in, I already have plans for five different characters to go full shounen protagonist at some point. A few of them will even do it successfully!


	5. A Tale of Two Devils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akuma, lord of the lower underworld, claims rulership through brute strength. He has no idea what’s waiting for him.
> 
> Towa, the revolutionary, claims rulership through superior strategy. She has no idea what’s waiting for her, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We might actually have this entire fic’s only source of comedy in this chapter. Have fun.

Akuma sat on his throne in the lower underworld.

It was a quiet day, for the most part - his plan was to check in on Amelia a year or so from now; by then her soul may be broken enough to accept playing the game. If not, he could always wait a bit longer.

She would break eventually, like every other soul ever sent to the black chamber.

Truthfully, Akuma didn’t like using it. It was a tool, like everything else. A tool used for those who he could not either reason with or blast into being reasoned with.

He thought about Towa. He sensed a potential within her.

_It’s a shame, really. I remember when I helped her ascend. I sensed a power within. She might be one of the few other devils who could possibly challenge me. A shame the mortal realm made her so soft. She’s cunning, but she lacks ruthlessness._

It was in this contemplation that another devil burst into the room. A minor devil; he was far less human-looking and looked more classically devilish.

“Please don’t shoot the messenger over this, but a group of devils from the north - the violet clan, if you know them - are up to something. They’re hiding out in the ashen mountains located North of here.”

“Oh?”

“Look, I’m trying to phrase this in a way that won’t make you blast me.”

“You’re not upping your chances. Speak it.”

The messenger devil sighed.

“They’re claiming that you are not fit to rule the lower underworld, and would rather champion archdevil Tokoyami Towa in your place. She appears to be gaining influence, and fast.”

“How in here did she manage to get anyone on her side-you know what? I think this might be interesting. You see, I think Towa thinks she’s being clever. She thinks she can win without having to fight me. That’s the game she’s playing at. She’s a fool. But I’ll grant her that she’s a very intelligent and quite charming fool. Still a fool nonetheless. I guess a _demonstration_ is in order to show what happens to those who defy the natural order of the underworld.”

And with that, Akuma got up and left.

* * *

Akuma cursed the location of the ashen mountains. They were the border area between a large frozen wasteland and an equally large but fiery wasteland.

It was also Towa’s home, he remembered. Akuma cursed staying in the land nearest to the frozen wastes; he personally was not a fan of trekking through the biting ice and snow that eternally blanketed this place.

It had a weird tendency to always have a blizzard going on somewhere in the realm; to his surprise this was one of the more pleasant ones; it was more a flurry.

However, he was a fan of one thing about this place: it was quiet. Few devilkind made their homes out here; most preferring the opposite end of the inhospitable temperature spectrum.

So it surprised him when a _very loud_ voice cut through the snow with a high pitch and the vocal equivalent of caps lock.

“HALT, DEMON!”

Akuma was caught off guard. For starters, he was a devil.

“You clearly don’t know who I am, so get out of my way.”

“NOPE!”

Akuma sighed. He focused his vision. Through the flurry, he saw a silhouette of a girl with red hair with a sword in her head.

“Who even are you?”

“I’m K-K-K-K-KUREIJI OLLIE! And I know you’re planning on doing...uh, evil things!”

“You’re working with Towa, aren’t you.”

“YES! I mean, uh, NO! I’M TOTALLY not working together to try and stall you for time!”

Akuma laughed.

“Towa really is scared of me. I never thought she’d stoop so low as to send...what are you, anyway?”

“Zombie, weirdly animate undead. Got sent to the upper underworld because of that, but I decided it’d be funny to join Towa’s revolution, so I did. And I WILL stop you!”

Akuma walked forward towards Ollie.

“I don’t feel like holding back today. How about you just run, and you keep all of your body parts still attached to you.”

“DO YOUR WORST!”

Akuma conjured his sword. He ignited the blade, burning with an intense heat.

“Your mistake.”

And with a single swing, cleanly separated Ollie’s head from the rest of her body.

Akuma breathed out.

“Well, that was forgettable. Damn undead don’t know their place as the weakest residents.”

He paused.

“Who am I kidding? They never come down here. Of course they’re idiots who don’t know better. Then again, if that _fool_ Towa wants to get followers, I suppose other fools would be her primary audience.”

He walked past, onwards to the mountainous area that Towa called home.

After confirming he had walked past, Ollie’s headless body got up. It calmly walked forward towards the now separated head, which it picked up and re-attached to her body.

She took out her phone, and made a call.

“Towa, this is Ollie. Good news, the plan worked: he’s going directly after you. Bad news: he’s going directly after you. Should I stall him some more or…?”

A pause for the response, and then:

“ALRIGHT! Leave it to me, Senpais!”

* * *

Towa looked out over the mountain range.

She was amazed that her old devil clan was willing to accept her once again, and even more amazed they were willing to help her with Akuma.

It turns out, the only thing that they needed for them to oppose the ruler of the lower underworld would be a new leader to rally around. Towa didn’t have the sheer power and toughness that Akuma possessed, but she was likeable, unlike him. When she explained that she was planning to oppose Akuma and steal Amelia back, the rest of her clan was willing to go along with it.

Towa had made one concession to the rest of her kin, which was that she would not ask any of them to fight Akuma directly. No, this was a battle that would only be fought from the shadows.

Now, only the moment of truth remained.

Towa took a moment to take a position much higher up the mountains to observe her target. Akuma had entered the mountainous region, and Towa had him in her sights. He had taken the bait; now all they had to do was buy enough time for Calliope to get Amelia out. Akuma liked to take his time with his prey. That would be his downfall.

Towa raised her pitchfork, and fired a red bolt of lightning, striking Akuma from a massive distance. It was a warning shot.

She then immediately ran, not bothering to check how successful the strike was.

That ended up being a wise decision, as she then watched a fireball explode behind her as she moved to a new vantage point. She flash-sprinted across a rope bridge that separated two of the mountains in the range; it was now time to play the waiting game.

* * *

Akuma was mad, but he had to admit, Towa was playing this well; if she couldn’t win in a duel between the two of them, then she would have to win by taking cheap potshots from a distance. Akuma cursed her specialization in lightning magic; it meant that even at a range the possibility of dodging attacks was slim. He had little hope that his fireball actually managed to hit Towa at this distance; it would be an easy dodge.

If Towa had enough power to actually be a threat, it would be a problem.

Not that it mattered; while normally he wouldn’t care, Towa was building influence and, as far as Akuma knew, was building towards the possibility of reorganizing the lower underworld in a way where sheer power was not the primary tool of determining hierarchy.

No, Towa would have to be stopped. The black chamber was what waited for her; once her mind was sufficiently broken, she would never be _capable_ of being the leader that apparently she was championed as.

He looked up to the network of mountain tops and bridges. It was hard to see from this distance - Akuma’s eyes weren’t as good as Towa’s - but he could see what looked like a devil running across a rope bridge to a different peak.

“I’ve got you now. I’ve got all day to catch you.”

The combination of contemplating Towa’s fate and climbing up to Towa’s former position left him distracted. He wasn’t expecting it when suddenly, an angry and _very fast_ zombie punched him in the head.

“I’M BACK!”

He turned around, and saw Kureiji Ollie, who didn’t seem to be too phased.

“How did you regenerate a lost head that quickly? Even us devils can’t do that.”

“Nah, I just reattached it! I might not know you, but you _definitely_ don’t know me! And I don’t care if I have no hope of stopping you! You! WILL! NOT! HURT! MY SENPAIS!”

Ollie moved her hand to her sword, and drew her sword out of her head.

Her hair, normally tied up in buns, was let loose. She pointed the blade towards Akuma.

“Round 2, big guy!”

Ollie leapt at Akuma.

Akuma drawed his blade, and parried the blade, only to be struck by Ollie’s sword as she took another thrust before he could move the blade back. The stab wound was surprisingly small; to him, it was nothing more than the most minor of paper cuts.

The battle was a repeated and furious trading of blows between two swords; one thin and one broad. The trade, however, wasn’t even; Ollie was striking him with each series of traded blows, while somehow managing to block every single one of Akuma’s.

Akuma realized something: Ollie was impossibly fast. She was everywhere; she was operating at a super-speed that meant that Akuma couldn’t just outplay her with his sword. To the zombie, Akuma was practically operating in slow motion; she could just run around and make attacks that he wasn’t fast enough to block, while using her speed to block any attack that he made.

He had underestimated her.

If only it mattered. If this battle continued for too long, perhaps Ollie would successfully stall him.

_It’s time to cut this short._

Akuma struck forward with a slash motion. Ollie blocked with superb reflexes.

She wasn’t ready for how powerful the strike was; Ollie’s sword was snapped into two pieces, and Ollie herself was thrown back by the force of the strike, knocked down.

She was getting up when suddenly Akuma grabbed her by her legs.

“Oh, no, you’re not going anywhere. I’m DONE with you!”

Akuma took out his sword. Unlike her head, which was severed gracefully, Ollie’s legs were hacked off messily with a couple distinct blows. Akuma then picked up the messily severed legs and threw them off behind him.

Ollie seemed surprisingly unfazed: “You know, I’m pretty sure that would hurt really badly if I still HAD nerves! Now look what you’ve done, it’s gonna take FOREVER to reattach those!”

Akuma just stared in disbelief.

“I’m done with you. Without your legs, you aren’t going anywhere fast.”

With that, he drove his foot into Ollie’s chest, completely ineffectively.

And then he walked off to Towa’s former position, where the bridge to the other peak started.

He walked out onto the bridge, where he spotted his enemy.

* * *

Towa looked across the bridge, alongside Ayame, who had come down to the underworld.

The bridge was nothing more than a precarious series of wooden planks held together by fragile ropes.

It was not a place for a final battle; and yet, seemingly it would have to do for now.

She looked at Ayame, who had both swords drawn.

“Remember, we’re stalling him. Not fighting him. Remember the plan, and it’ll all be alright.”

Ayame almost seemed disappointed, but she agreed.

Towa walked out onto the bridge, where she spotted her enemy.

* * *

Two devils stared at each other.

No words were spoken. The world seemed to go silent, the only sound a faint howl of the wind; in a land where the sun never shined, a grey shadow lit only by ambient magic lit the underground chasm.

Towa drew her pitchfork. It crackled with hellish energy, then fired a bolt of red lightning straight down the bridge.

Akuma blocked the bolt with a barrier - unlike the first two times, he was ready for the attack.

Akuma laughed. “Is that the hardest you can hit?”

He charged forward across the bridge, hands glowing with powerful fire magic at the ready.

Towa charged forward, pitchfork drawn and ready for another round of lightning magic.

Towa jumped, as did Akuma, the two preparing to trade blows in the air.

Towa summoned her barrier in the middle of the jump. Not expecting it, Akuma crashed directly into it, his jump’s momentum working against him.

Towa, taking the opportunity, dismissed the barrier, then delivered a powerful lightning bolt point-blank into Akuma’s armor. She then kicked off of Akuma’s body, recoiling backwards.

Not taking the time to let Akuma get up, she flash-stepped back to her side of the bridge.

Akuma got up quickly, looking at Towa’s position.

“Clever girl! But not clever enough; you’re still the fool for challenging me. You can’t beat me.”

Towa smiled cheerfully.

“Yeah, I can’t. But maybe _gravity_ will.”

Akuma started charging down the bridge. At that point, Ayame walked up to the bridge, swords drawn.

Akuma’s eyes widened as he realized the trap he had just walked into.

She slashed the ropes, causing the bridge to collapse.

Towa’s cheerful smile evolved into a smug grin as Akuma fell into the abyss.

* * *

Ayame giggled.

“That’s _it?_ The most feared demon in the underworld and that’s all we needed to do?”

Towa, on the other hand, had wiped the grin off her own face.

“Nah, but this probably stalls him for another hour or so while we find a new position to dupe him. He’s fundamentally lazy; he’ll take quite a while to actually use the full extent of his power to avoid getting caught by the tra-”

A sound of a powerful physical impact hit both of their ears.

Towa looked down the mountain, and saw the one thing she was hoping not to see: Akuma rapidly ascending the mountain in a series of powerful jumps, each time drawing his sword and thrusting it into the mountainside to create a foothold, each time leaving an impressive impact from the sheer strength of the landing.

Akuma was clearly angry beyond all belief. They didn’t have an hour. They barely had a minute.

Towa looked on in horror, and then turned around.

“Ayame, we’ve gotta run, or that’s going to be us. He’s pissed enough that he’s most likely going to throw me into the isolation field if he catches me - we _have to run_ , right now!”

The two of them fled from their position down the mountain to a bridge. This bridge, however, was not made of flimsy wooden planks. No; this bridge was the official crossing between a realm ice and a realm of fire; it was a large stone bridge designed for heavy underworld traffic. Towa had made the call to close the bridge; she had a feeling that it was not going to be a safe zone and she wanted everyone she could out before things went sideways. Towa was now glad she made that call; at least if people were going to get hurt, it could just be her, if possible.

“Towa, I think...I think I’m going to stop at the bridge.”

“Ayame, what are you _thinking?_ This isn’t a battle you can win.”

“He only wants to break you, right? If I fight...then I can stall him for longer, and that might make sure you’re safe. I’ll play the hero, for now. I know...I know it's a bad idea for me personally, but Ollie lost her head and her limbs for our cause; I’m going to try, and you can’t stop me.”

Towa sighed.

“You are too good for the lower underworld. If you get out of here alive, I’m never letting you down here again.”

Ayame laughed.

“So are you.”

Ayame turned around at the end of the bridge.

“Go, Towa. I’m ready for this.”

And once again, Ayame drew her swords.

* * *

Akuma was furious. Towa deciding to outwit him was one thing. Towa using cheapshot stalling techniques was another thing.

Towa successfully outwitting him with a trap planned with a friend?

No, that would not stand.

Akuma realized something:

_I can’t just win by rolling over. I might actually have to use my full power or she’ll think she can actually win against me._

He leapt up the mountain, each jump a strong display of his power.

 _I’m going to_ **_break_ ** _her._

And then he landed at the peak where Ayame and Towa were about a minute ago.

He looked around, and saw the path they had fled; they hadn’t been careful, having been pressured into a retreating position too quickly to plan it through.

They could run, but they could no longer hide.

Akuma calmly walked down the path, following it down the mountain until it met the bridge.

This bridge, however, was not made of flimsy wooden planks. This bridge was currently empty, which was unusual - usually a border crossing such as this had constant traffic through it.

However, that wasn’t tactically important. What _was_ tactically important is that Ayame would not be able to demolish it via a single strike.

Which was why he was surprised to see Ayame standing there on the other side of the bridge, swords drawn.

* * *

Akuma taunted Ayame.

“You can’t cut this bridge down. You might as well just flee now and get to that step faster. You’re just being a fool otherwise, one loyal to an equally foolish friend.”

Ayame replied.

“I’ve done a lot of foolish things. This might even be the most foolish. But I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t at least try.”

Akuma laughed.

“You’re not even a devil. You have absolutely no hope of beating me, the most powerful of all devil-kind.”

Ayame unleashed a retort.

“And I was the most feared demon of my entire cohort. My skills with a sword were unmatched to all of my own peers. You do well to not underestimate my entire species.”

“I don’t plan to. You see, Towa’s gotten a bit too dangerous for me to just casually lay around and not handle. So, unlike last time, I don’t plan to hold back as much now. If you’re going to play the ‘friends’ card with Towa to try and stop me, I’ll strike you down with my full power. And if _anyone else_ tries to do that, I’ll strike them down, too. This game has gone on long enough, and I’ve decided it’s coming to an end. I’ll start with you.”

And with that, a fire emerged from his hand, he moved his hands around each other, a brilliant fiery light shining from them, until he fired it off.

An intensely brilliant beam of fire shot down the bridge.

Ayame looked at the light, and knew this battle was over. She could feel the incredible power behind that beam of fire; she could take a defensive stance if she wished; it would do no good. She closed her eyes, not looking at the light before it hit her.

_Towa was right; I was a complete idiot to-_

She heard the blast, and braced herself.

And then she realized that somehow, Akuma had missed. He had just unleashed the fullest extent of his fire magic and he had _missed,_ leaving Ayame unharmed.

She opened her eyes. There was no hole in her chest, nothing implying that she got hit.

She grinned, and taunted Akuma.

“You missed!”

Akuma grinned right back, and pointed to Ayame’s side.

“No, I didn’t. Remember that you’re not my _real_ opponent.”

Ayame turned her head, and saw what he meant.

Towa hadn’t run. And the blast really _was_ unleashed at full power; the beam had burned a hole straight through Towa’s chest. She clutched it, and then fell to the ground, gasping in pain.

“Towa! Why...why didn’t you run?!”

“Because...this...is...my home. Go home, Ayame...this...isn’t...a place...for you.”

Ayame turned around, her eyes glowing red.

She was _done_ with Akuma. No one hurts her friends and gets away with it. It didn’t matter that this was the ruler of the underworld and the most powerful devil to exist, he was going to _pay_ for what he had done.

She leapt at him, both swords drawn.

He raised his hand, and a blast of fire emerged, directly igniting Ayame.

Despite being a demon and resistant to fire, Akuma’s devilfire burned to a much more thorough extent that even Ayame’s resistance was not ready to handle; she was overwhelmed by the pain almost instantly as she was both thrown back by the blast and set of fire from it. She screamed in response.

Akuma laughed.

“Utterly pointless, just like everything else-”

Akuma didn’t finish the sentence as a massive bolt of red lightning struck him, taking him off guard. He was shocked.

_Who? What? Where?_

“You made a crucial mistake. _You turned your back_ on the body.”

He looked up ahead.

Towa had gotten up again.

“...Heh. _That_ strike, the feared pyro-lance. _That_ is what you call your ‘full power’...heh. With just one blow, this battle should be over. A power so far beyond that of which I have ever witnessed. Not too long ago, it would’ve been enough. It would’ve both ended the battle and shown how hopeless it was...I’d have lost, wouldn’t I?

She grinned.

“And yet, somehow, I can’t give up now. Because it’s not just me. Before I met my mortal friends…I just accepted it. Accepted the casual cruelty of your rule. But I can’t, anymore. I can’t watch you keep doing this to anyone who disagrees with you. The strong...they do not _have_ to rule over the weak. And now...the underworld will look at this as the moment of truth that decided the fate of all devils.

“And even though my body shouldn’t be able to take it, something is overriding the desire to collapse. It’s...a strange feeling.

“It’s that feeling I get every time I really take a moment to think about everyone you’ve hurt; every soul you have _broken;_ every time you’ve decided that cruelty was the only option. You’ve hurt my friends, and hurt the friends of many others.

“I will _never_ accept existing in a world that _you_ continue to rule.

“It reminded me of the early days. The first days of my ascension, when I finally gave in and became a devil. And now, I remember what this feeling was...

“Because it was hatred.”

She laughed. It wasn’t a funny laugh; it was a maniacal, _insane_ laughter. She cracked a grin and spoke with an exaggerated, yet pained tone, venom seeping into every word. As she did so, she summoned her pitchfork and charged it again.

“So let me ask: _Is that the hardest you can hit?_ Because that hatred...was to stop _you! YOU_ made me into this! And now…”

Towa suddenly calmed down. Yet, the entire world seemingly went silent as she spoke the end of her tirade. The last sentence was delivered almost entirely emotionlessly, spoken with a lethal coldness that carried more fury than the most enraged shout ever could.

“I’ll kill you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Akuma vs. Towa, round 2: Serious Boogaloo.


	6. Devil of Darkness, Devil of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Towa unleashes the full extent of her fury against that who would harm her friends.
> 
> Akuma finally finds a devil who’s strong enough to be a worthy opponent to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been waiting for this scene from pretty much when I started this entire story.
> 
> As a warning, this chapter is the reason I used the Graphic Depictions of Violence warning. You may want to skip out on this stuff if you aren’t into how brutal combat is.
> 
> It’s somewhat over the top, but it’s also representative of how brutally vicious things get when two beings that feed off of what is essentially pure energized hatred fight each other to the fullest extent of their true strength.
> 
> It’s brutal.
> 
> It’s supposed to be.

Akuma and Towa stood, both staring each other down on the bridge that connected fire and ice.

Towa aimed her pitchfork forward, and said nothing.

She unleashed her lightning. This time, there would be no warm-up round; she immediately fired off a rapid series of shots, several arcing from the sides.

Akuma blocked each one in succession with his hand barriers, shifting his attention to handle the consecutive strikes until he was caught off guard by one directly down the center, striking him square in the chest. The force was such that some of his armor broke apart into pieces. Despite this, Akuma himself stood his ground, still stable after the hit.

“You…!”

He then retaliated with a powerful blast of fire.

Towa held her hand and conjured a barrier. The blast connected.

The barrier held. At the moment the blast cleared, Towa dismissed the barrier, jumped up to slightly closer range with Akuma, and then from her pitchfork unleashed a powerful, continuous stream of her signature red lightning, not giving Akuma a chance to breathe after the blast.

Akuma’s barriers formed around his hands, which he held out in front of himself and used to block the lightning. It wasn’t enough; somehow, the sheer amount of it overwhelmed his barrier and struck him directly, dissipating the barrier and knocking him down, seemingly for the count.

Towa looked at the now prone Akuma.

“You’ve forgotten what it’s like to have an opponent, Akuma. You’ve gotten so used to the idea that every other devil will immediately submit to you the instant you reveal your ‘true’ power.

“And now, you have _no idea_ what to do when _that doesn’t work._ If all I have to do is survive what you’ve already put me through...then you have lost this duel. You were _always_ going to lose it from the moment you started it. I said I’ll kill you. Unlike you, _I don’t break promises._ Goodbye.”

She leaped into the air, aiming her pitchfork down for a direct impalement of her opponent.

Akuma rolled out of the way, and then seemingly propelled himself from the prone position to getting back to his feet; in the process landing a fair distance away, down the bridge.

And then something weird happened: Akuma _laughed._ He let out a deep laugh, a maniacal laugh that signaled that something was off, as if he wasn’t injured from being blasted by lightning.

“Towa...you’ve got it all wrong! I’ve been waiting for this for _thousands_ of years! Do you know what it’s like? To know that no opponent can stand up to you, that one show of my real power is all it takes to win?”

The insanity was terrifying, the sense that somehow, the mad king was going to lose it entirely. Yet, somehow, it was still worse when he calmed down, bringing his speech to a chilling quiet.

“I always thought you would never be able to use your true potential. You _always_ disappointed me. I’ve never been more excited for you to prove me wrong. This potential, this _hatred_...this is why _I ascended you_ into a devil in the first place. I _knew_ you had it in you all along.

“This...this is the first real duel we have ever had, the first real duel _I’ve_ ever had, even. We’ve just started, and now it’s _my_ turn to show you just how strong I _really_ am.”

Akuma leapt at Towa, fists ignited.

Towa conjured a barrier in response, and watched as Akuma punched it repeatedly, to the point where cracks started appearing.

That was a mistake.

Towa thrust her pitchfork forward. Not as a lightning strike, but as a physical weapon. She dismissed the barrier, and flash-stepped - but instead of using it to dodge, she used it to impale Akuma directly on her pitchfork at a nearly supersonic speed. She withdrew the weapon, and then kicked Akuma off of the pitchfork, leaving a visibly very bloody mark on his chest.

Towa shouted maniacally.

“Is this the best you can do? You struck me with a _pyrolance_ and I’m still standing; what do you think a punch or two will do?”

Akuma stood his ground, despite the wound.

Towa cast a second round of lightning bolts, including a pair of lightning balls, both of which went sailing past Akuma. Akuma blocked the bolts aimed at him, and stayed on guard for the two lightning balls that missed.

Akuma laughed.

“That trick won’t work twice. And you think that first blow in the duel was a full-on pyrolance? Let me show you what that technique _actually_ is.”

And with that, he raised his hand. As he did so, he conjured a massive spear seemingly made out of pure fire.

“ _This_ is the famed pyrolance spell.”

And then he threw it.

Towa raised her hands to form another barrier as the projectile connected.

A massive explosion of both fire and smoke followed. Towa’s barrier shattered, but it wasn’t for nothing; the lance failed to connect with its target.

However, Akuma used the opportunity to leap up to Towa, and delivered a punch. This was not a punch of human proportions, the kind thrown in drunken brawls; this punch was magically empowered, with intent to break whatever it hit.

There was a sickening _crunch_ as Akuma’s fist connected: the sound of a few of Towa’s ribs cracking from the sheer force as she was knocked back.

Not intending to let Towa get another chance, Akuma ran up to her, and drove his foot into Towa’s body.

* * *

Ayame came to, and watched the battle.

She was horrified by what she saw; she had _never_ seen Towa lose herself this badly. Even without being a devil herself, she could feel the _insane_ hatred Towa had for Akuma. She could feel the raw power being dished out in the duel between the two devils. She didn’t want to interfere; Towa had been right. It _should’ve_ been between the two of them.

But watching Akuma break Towa’s body was enough. She didn’t care how personal this was, or how outmatched she was. She didn’t want to interfere in a battle of this kind of power scale, but she _had_ to interfere or else Towa would be killed...or if it got worse, Towa might just give in and not return to sanity once it was over.

Ayame drew her swords and leapt toward Akuma’s back, who was too focused on Towa to notice her approach. She slashed across Akuma’s body, leaving behind a bloody cross where the slashes connected. She struck again in a whirlwind motion, repeatedly slashing across Akuma’s body in a righteous fury.

It was brief; Akuma turned around, and conjured _his_ sword. In a flash-step like motion, he impaled Ayame on the blade, and then whipped the blade around, swinging Ayame right off of it.

She collapsed from the wound.

Akuma had barely turned around when both of the lightning balls Towa threw earlier finally came around to hit him in the back again.

“Argh! How are you...how are you _keeping up_ with me? I swear, I’m going to-”

His hesitation proved to be his undoing, as Towa, who had gotten up again, unleashed a stream of her signature red lightning, which Akuma was entirely unprepared for.

Towa simply stared down Akuma as she watched his body contort with pain, with no words spoken.

And then, the impossible happened. Despite being hit, Akuma got up, and flash-stepped directly _through_ the lightning stream.

Towa had overcommitted to the spell; and as a result had no defensive magic ready to counter the strike.

Akuma impaled Towa with his blade. Intent on ending the duel, he pushed downwards, pushing Towa’s body into the ground, sword directly positioned through Towa’s chest.

“Heh. Even this power...and it still wasn’t enough. It’s almost a shame I have to send you to the black chamber; you have so much potential that it’s a shame I won’t be able to fight you like this again. But, you see, you’re changing things.”

His hands on the sword, he proceeded to twist the blade into Towa’s flesh.

Towa gasped in pain, her fury still carrying her past it.

“You’re trying to change the fundamental nature of the underworld...I can’t have that. Perhaps you need to _understand_ what it is I do. A _demonstration_ of how this world works is in order.”

With the blade still stuck in Towa’s body, he ignited his sword, an intense flame spreading down the blade.

Towa screamed as the blade ignited, burning her both on the outside _and_ inside of her body, until it was over. The blade de-ignited, and Towa was reduced to unintelligible crying.

“This was the most fun I’ve had in ages. And I’ll promise you that, while you won’t be able to see each other, you’ll get a cell in the isolation field right beside my-”

That was as far as he got before suddenly he had a katana sticking through his chest.

“That’s twice now that you turned your back on the body.”

Ayame, despite her earlier impalement, had gotten up, breathing heavily.

She drove her other blade into Akuma’s back. With the last of her strength, she picked up Akuma with her blades, and delivered a powerful kick. As she did so, she swung the blades, ripping through Akuma’s flesh as he was sent flying back, landing with an audible thud.

He didn’t get back up.

Ayame looked at the downed devil king.

They had won.

She turned around to Towa.

And then her face dropped, looking at how badly Towa’s body had been destroyed. If she had been mortal, she would’ve been killed multiple times over; she had a hole in her chest as well as being covered in horrific burns, on both the inside and outside of her body; and Ayame knew she had heard several bones crack during the battle.

Towa well looked like a corpse at this point, but, as devils are, she wasn’t dead.

Ayame crouched down to Towa, who was barely conscious. Somehow, in all of this, Towa had returned to sanity. Her eyes no longer had the glow of pure hatred that they had during the fight with Akuma.

“Towa...”

“Hey. You...should go. I think...I think...I need to lie down. It hurts. It really does.”

Ayame started crying softly. “Towa, I’m not sure you realize it, but...we won. By some miracle, we actually _beat him!_ You’ve gotta get up! Please, Towa...”

“Ayame...I can’t die. None of us...can die permanently anymore. I just need to rest. Possibly for a while. I think...I think Akuma got the kill on me...just like you did on him. We won, huh?”

Towa smiled, despite being near delirious from pain.

And then a sound that both Towa and Ayame were hoping to never hear again happened.

The sound of Akuma coming to.

Ayame turned around. Her body, too, was too injured to fight anymore. If Akuma wasn’t downed from all of this...then it was over. There would never have been any hope of winning from the start.

Towa turned her head. Ayame looked at his body, barely able to stand. And what they saw told them that it hadn’t been pointless: his body was covered in sword wounds, as well as two very bloody stab marks, from where Ayame had struck him, and he was covered in electrical burns from repeated hits from Towa’s lightning.

For all as badly beaten up as Towa was, Akuma hadn’t gotten off scot-free either.

Akuma breathed heavily.

“You...I can’t believe it.”

He grinned maniacally.

“You’ve fought me to a _bloody_ stalemate! I didn’t think it was possible...but I’m calling it a draw, for now. I’m...going to need to rest before I can fight like this again. It’s...exhilarating. The idea that truly you _can_ be a worthy opponent to me. I saw this potential when I first ascended you, and...for the first time, I’ve seen that potential realized. Maybe I’ll hurt your friends more if it gets you to fight like this.

“But when I recover...I will hunt you down. And then we will have our round 2. Maybe I’ll win. Maybe you’ll do the impossible and force me to submit. Or maybe we’ll fight to another draw, and go to round 3. We’ll do this _forever_ if we need to. If I win...you know what happens. If you win, well, it’s pointless to make requests of the winner, but you should look in a mirror if you do.”

Ayame looked at Towa, then to Akuma, then back to Towa.

The idea of fighting this brutally for an eternal stalemate was a fate she wouldn’t wish upon anyone...and yet, there seemed to be no escape from it. Ayame couldn’t possibly keep it up forever, and there’s no way Towa could fight any more ferociously than that.

Akuma grunted.

“I’ll admit, I’m surprised to see you try so hard to recover your supposed possession. Taking Amelia from you was already in my plans, but to find out it made you do _this?_ I had no idea. She’s a real keeper. As are you, Tokoyami. And now...”

“There’s been a change of plans.”

A new voice entered the conversation.

It was Mori Calliope, her face serious.

Akuma looked contemptuously at Calliope.

“Reaper. What brings you down here? This is a realm where only we the devils live.”

“Oh, nothing. Just making sure the written rules were being followed.”

Akuma laughed.

“As if any of those matter to one as powerful as I.”

Calliope's face broke into a smirk.

“You’d be surprised what I’m willing to do for a friend. Especially one that you’ve handled so abhorrently; even for one with a karmic debt to pay back, you’ve treated her poorly, especially given that she isn’t even _your_ possession.”

Akuma realized the implications.

“No! You can’t...you can’t just defy me like this! I’ve just fought two of the strongest challengers to ever exist and fought them both to a stalemate. What makes you think you’re any different?”

“You really don’t understand what Towa has done, have you?”

Calliope continued, her smirk evolving to a slight grin.

“She just disproved the myth of your supposed invincibility. You’re _beatable,_ just not alone. Towa worked with Ayame to beat her. What do you think will happen if she works together with another devil on a similar power level?”

The grin went fully across Calliope’s face.

“She just proved that you don’t always win. And now all someone needs to do is prove you can actually lose.”

She shrugged.

“I’m not one to tell you how to rule your kingdom. But I _am_ saying that if you don’t clean up your act...well, you’re probably not going to like what happens next. I’m not going to fight you here in the lower underworld - this is your kingdom, and as such your rules - but I am willing to check-in for the sake of my friends. Anyways, I don’t plan on bothering you again, so...Goodbye.”

She grabbed a hold of Towa and Ayame’s bodies, then vanished into the shadows, teleporting them both to the underground holo-house.

Akuma just stared at what Calliope had done, and then _snapped._

“I won’t let you win.”

Akuma shouted in rage, at having lost Amelia. 

“I WON’T let you win.”

At having lost his shield of fear.

“I. WON’T. LET. YOU. WIN!”

And at having lost his grip over the lower underworld with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is a pretty good place to take a small break from this story. Rescued Amelia, beat Akuma up (while saving him for a later finale arc), and got everyone out in one piece (well, sort of, in the case of Ollie, I guess).
> 
> Plus, I got room to do a more light hearted chapter to relax somewhat before the last few chapters, since those will get really wild.


End file.
